Brandivy – 10th April 2011 - 16 x 4.36km Laps
Brandivy is a tiny village about half an hour south-west of us. The course is fast but not too technical.
15:30 hrs - two races:
Pass’Cyclisme is divided into four groups D1 to D4 (D1 being strongest and D4 weakest). At Brandivy Groups D1 & D2 were sent off first to complete 17 laps. Groups D3 & D4 set off with its own race car a couple of minutes later and was slated to complete 16 laps of the same course. Ian and I, being beginners, are in Group D4.
D3 & D4 - the early laps:
A little over twenty of us gathered at the start.
The first kilometre is a fast downhill and we soon gathered speeds in excess of 40 kph. A sharp left-hander took us along a narrow, bumpy, undulating and twisty 2 kms stretch before the final kilometre up a moderately steep hill. After that came a short gentle uphill stretch to the Finish. My wife, Jan and the Cushways cheered us on from half-way up the final hill.
The first lap was at a rather modest pace and I felt pretty good but I know my limitations when it comes to hill climbing so I pushed to the front of the group as we arrived at the foot of the final climb of the lap. I was following the recommendation of my coach/mentor/mechanic/mate, Andy Shaw. He said that I should get to the front of the group before the hills. He argued that if I were overtaken I’d at least have a chance to remain in touch by the time I reached the top.
Well, it worked, at first.
I passed Jan and the Cushways in second position and could hear them cheering us along. Ian was right behind me and I was feeling really strong at that point. By the time we crested the top of the hill and rounded the corner to the Finish line I had dropped a few places but was still in the middle of the group.
The next two laps continued the much the same vein but I did find it slightly harder getting to the front before that final climb. My quads began to burn a little during each uphill section but I was able to relax during the downhill stretches and the flat bits so I could recover a little.
Then, at the end of the third lap something went wrong.
As we turned the sharp left-hander towards the finish line my breath caught in my chest. I can’t say exactly what happened, but it was like bile had risen in my throat. I might have missed a gear change or something but my quads started to burn and I found myself a couple of bike lengths adrift of the group as we passed the Finish line. It happened in a flash, a second of inattention and by the time I reached the downhill part of the course the group had pulled inexorably away from me.
Anybody who’s not been in a bike race cannot comprehend how hard it is to reattach to a group once you’ve been dropped. Even a small group of riders can generate 20-30% more speed than a singleton; it’s a physics thing to do with wind resistance, and a psychological thing to do with mood affect. That is why in professional road races the peloton almost always catches the breakaways.
I struggled gamely on, my speed dropping all the time. I was back to riding in my own individual Time-Trial and feeling bloody pissed off with it!
Pre-race plan:
Before the race, I had decided to ride as hard as I could and then call it a day if and when I was lapped. Yeah, I know all of you positive thinkers out there are saying I was setting myself up to fail. However, I am a realist. I know that being pretty much a couch potato between 1997 and 2008 had left me fat and unfit. The sedentary lifestyle had done its damage.
True, I have improved significantly in a year, but I still have a long way to go and I am now pushing 54, an old man by many standards. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to a competitive level, but I am going to bloody well keep trying - at least for a while.
On one bright note, I did manage to pass a couple of riders during the middle laps, one of them was from the D1/D2 race so I suppose I could argue that I wasn’t exactly the worst rider on show that day. The other victim was a young woman from my race. According to Jan, loads of riders had packed in before the finish; I could try to take comfort from that.
Lapped:
The D1/D2 racers caught me at the end of the 9th lap. I knew it would happen, but it was still a punch in the gut. The irony was that I managed to latch on to the group and didn’t have to work too hard to stay with them for a lap and a half until I was dropped again on the same damned hill. By that time though, my heart really wasn’t in it anymore; working alone certainly takes it out of your legs - and you mindset.
Half a lap later I was overtaken by our race car. Seconds later, two cyclists, the race leaders, sped past me. One of them was the 60 year-old Englishman, Bob Jones, who eventually came second. But then again, Bob’s a former elite-level cyclist and has kept cycling more-or-less continuously – rather underlines my earlier point about the benefits of maintaining exercise levels throughout life.
I waited for the inevitable and, sure enough, a few hundred yards later the pack reached and then overtook me. Again, I slid onto the wheel of the last man. Ian, still with the group, dropped back to say hello. I think I just nodded or grunted at him, I can’t really remember.
I actually found it quite easily to stay with them; the drafting effects of riding in a group were really obvious. But as we passed the place where our families watched, I pulled to a stop.
I stood there straddling the bike totally spent. My head rested on the back of my hands and my forearms rested on the handlebars. When I eventually looked up, the expression on Jan’s face hit me like a second blow to the guts; a cross between disappointment and resignation.
She fired questions me: “If you’d stayed with them you’d only have been one lap behind so why did you stop? The Guilliers race is only a fortnight away, what are you going do then? What’s the point of all that training and the money wasted on the new bike.......?”
She didn’t really ask the last question, but I think you get the message.
Ian’s wife, Emma, Bless her, was much more supportive and actually told Jan off! “He can treat this race like a good training ride,” she said, “he’ll be better prepared next time,” she added.
Jan’s response was much more realistic and cutting, “Two weeks more training won’t make that much of a difference.”
Needless to say, my mood at this stage was not exactly positive. I don’t know how long I stopped for, but a few seconds, maybe a couple of minutes passed before a brace of cyclist went by, struggling up the hill behind me. I looked around to discover that they were the ones I had overtaken a few laps earlier.
I got really angry with myself then, bloody mad. I’d passed those two earlier on and they hadn’t given up. In a flash of stupidity and bravado, I clipped my feet back into the pedals and I ground off up the hill again.
Battling back:
Now, if this was a Hollywood movie I would have summoned the ‘Energy of the Gods’ and heroic music would have thundered around me. I would have flown past the two back markers, caught up my race group, sprinted by them and made up the whole lap I’d lost to win a fast sprint and cross the winning line in a blaze of glory (probably filmed in slow-motion).
Of course, this is real life and it didn’t happen that way.
I eventually managed to pass the two back markers and I did complete the race, but that’s about the sum of it really. No heroics, just a limp-flagged finish after everyone else had pretty much packed up and gone home.
Positives (and there are some):
My new bike performed really well - if not the rider. I actually managed to overtake some fellow competitors. I managed to stay with the pack for three laps and I am at least 10% faster than last year – a modest improvement but a move in the right direction.
Wrap-up:
Despite the improvement, I still need to progress by at least as much again! Is that possible? I don’t know really, but I am going to keep on training and working as hard as I can. We’ll see what happens.
Race Stats:
Total race distance 68.8 kms (43 miles)
Race Time: 02:10:00
Average Speed: 31.9 kph (19.9 mph).
Next race: Bignan 17th April – Gulp, that’s next Sunday!
Epilogue:
Jan and I arrived in Brandivy at midday to cheer on Ian Cushway’s lads: Charlie (9) and Max (6). They were competing in their separate Ecoles du Velo - children’s training races.
Charlie finished a very creditable fourth, despite being baulked at the start and dropping back thirty meters or so (much to his mother’s chagrin – she can be a real vixen when it comes to protecting her family). Charlie has real potential and could do well in the future if he continues this season’s progress.
Max finished sixth, again hugely impressive. Max has been going really well this year but he is so young it is too early to tell just how good he could be. We’ll see.
The Cushway lads are really very good prospects – a triumph of genetics I’d say.
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